DRAMATIC IMAGES FROM COLOMBIA JANUARY 2009- HUGE MUDSLIDE BLOCKS THE MINERO RIVER DANGEROUSLY CLOSE TO THE LA PITA EMERALD MINE. TWO MEN KILLED.

The entire side of a mountain slid into the Minero River, blocking the flow of water for 2 hours and 10 minutes according to eye-witnesses in San Pablo de Borbur. The dam created by the blockage raised the water level dangerously close to the La Pita emerald mine entrance which is at the level of the Panache stream where it intersects with the Minero. After the water began to flow over the dirt and mud it quickly washed a part of it away. There still is a small lake visible where the river once flowed.

Below are images of the Minero river near the La Pita mine. One image was taken in 2008, before the mudslide, and the other was taken last month, just a week after it happened. My visits to the mining region are often taken on a motocross motorcycle in order to get close to the river, the mountains and their changes. In this case I was there only a week after the mudslide and was able to talk to eye-witnesses.

"Before" image

"After" - taken January 10 after the side of a mountain slid into the Minero River, creating a new lake. Small mudslides and rockslides are common in the region, temporarily blocking roads. This was the largest in years, killing a mine employee and a construction worker.

Dec. 2009 - - Like real estate, stock market and employment figures, gemstones have gone down in price with the current recession, especially diamonds, tanzanite and tourmaline. However one gem, the Colombian emerald, has stayed remarkably stable in price even as demand weakens.

Stuart Robinson, Gemstone Editor of Gem Market News stated in the World of Gems Conference held last September in Chicago, that emeralds are looking to be the best deals of the coming year. They have been undervalued compared to other stones and are beginning to show strong demand. Now, nine months later in July 2009, his words still show veracity: the prices of diamonds and tanzanite have fallen quite dramatically while emerald prices, particularly of the finer Colombian emerald, have stayed steady and even risen is some cases.

Mr Robinson also said, “Compared to the alterations of corundum, emerald treatments are considerably less invasive. Enhancement does not create or change quality; you can’t take a low quality stone and turn it into a fine emerald.” It should be noted that emerald color always remains native; natural. Emerald enhancement alters the apparent clarity of the stone, not the color. Contemporary buyers, very aware that more new gem treatments have been introduced in the last ten years than in all of the fifty previous ones, seem at ease with the simple and old-fashioned enhancements still used with emeralds.

Steady Demand - The Hong Kong show is always an excellent barometer for the emerald market. In the March show, Colombian emeralds sold well but mainly commercial goods to dealers from India. Then at Basel, Switzerland in April, fine goods were selling. Now, at the recent June show in Hong Kong, the word was that the only goods moving were emeralds from Colombia and, to a small extent, diamonds. Gabriel Acuña of Esmeralda Gems is a regular at the Hong Kong shows and reports good sales in June in Hong Kong.

Eileen Weatherby, an emerald dealer of three decades’ experience put a historic perspective on the emerald phenomenon, “Back in 1979–1982 there was a huge run-up in diamond and ruby prices when people went into those stones as investments. Emerald prices resisted that price inflation that the other stones had, and, more importantly, they resisted the price deflation of rubies and diamonds that occurred in 1983 when the bubble collapsed. Even back then – and as now – emeralds were a better long term investment.”

Mr. Robinson agrees: “I think overall it is an important time to report the price strength of emeralds. The reality is that emeralds prices favor consumers compared to the historical highs. As we move out of the recession retail confidence will return. When that happens emerald prices and demand are likely to move up quickly.”

The phenomenon of gota de aceite emeralds has been known only to collectors and connoisseurs in the past. It is difficult to recognize and the use of the term gota de aceite has been reserved for only the finest emeralds. However, the term has been misused and needed re-defining in order to eliminate confusion in the marketplace.

See the image below for a definition of gota de aceite emeralds. Even in Bogotá, Colombia dealers pass over stones that have the phenomenon, not noticing its presence in the stone.

A few select pieces have been made available through RR Company. Scroll down to see them.

1.81 carat, 9.15 x 7.30mm - Notice the softness with which the color is presented in this gota de aceite emerald. The effect is only known to occur in Colombian emeralds. The term gota de aceitewas also known as the “butterfly wing effect.” Transparent irregularities in the internal crystal seem to be the result of changing and unstable conditions during emerald crystallization. These conditions give rise to both raised hexagonal terminations as well as etched geometric depressions [microphotos below]. After their formation, these growth structures are overgrown with more emerald.

1.81 carat emerald. Roiled effect and softening of the appearance of the back facets is produced by the transparent growth structures in gota de aceite emeralds.

1.84 oval - To be properly called gota de aceite, the emerald must have a soft honey-like texture face-up, and transparent angular (or hexagonal) growth structures visible under magnification. This image, taken at 30x, dramatically illustrates how the effect reduces the visiblilty of extinction. The upper area of the image, which would normally be black due to extinction, now gets light sent through it by the soft scattering effect of gota de aceite. Many people are enchanted when gazing at an emerald with the gota de aceite effect and they do not know why. Now you know why.

The hexagonal and angular nature of the growth structures that give rise to gota de aceite come from the tendency of beryl crystals to have multiple growths whenever conditions are ideal. Those growths form, get covered by more emerald and leave transparent vestiges behind; just enough to 'roil' the light passing through the emerald.

1.82 carat emerald cut emerald, 7.21 x 7.40mm. The zone of gota de aceite within an emerald is always perpendicular to the c--axis. If the cutter orients it so that it is roughly parallel to the table, it will create the pleasing visible effect of softening the emerald brilliance with a liquid-like texture. Notice the angular forms.

See below for a list of four gota de aceite emeralds available for purchase. These are from the April trip to Colombia; they are new aquisitions.

1.82 carat - 7.21 x 7.40mm

Available;SOLD

Degree of gota de aceite

effect: Moderate

Degree of enhancement: Negligible

1.81 carat - 9.15 x 7.30mm

Available;

Degree of gota de aceite

effect: Distinct

Degree of enhancement: None

1.84 carat - 9.10 x 7.61mm

Available;

Degree of gota de aceite

effect: Distinct

Degree of enhancement: Negligible

.76 carat - 6.88 x 6.60mm

Available;

Degree of effect: Moderate

Degree of enhancement: None

For prices, please call me. I am not an internet retailer; I am old-fashioned. I like to speak to my clients. 415 254 2474

<> Ronald Ringsrud Co. video (full of extreme footage!) is voted "Most Favorited" by JCOC.tv !!!!!! New video-based web site features video clips from many companies and represents a trend in internet information sharing. You can see all three extreme and profound minutes here: http://www.jcoc.tv/view_video.php?id=50

I think there must be a lesson here:
After much preparation last September, I led Dr. Peter Keller to the emerald markets in downtown Bogotá and then to the remote emerald mines - Muzo to be exact. It was his first trip to Colombia since 1985 when he was a regular there - as a geologist and researcher. Keller wrote the Fall 1981 article on emeralds in Gems & Gemology magazine that inspired me to revisit Colombia as a gemologist in 1983 (I had lived there before). So there we were, helicoptering over the jungle and landing in Muzo. Then getting dirty and wet in the mines, hanging with the locals; then eating pollo asado with the big-shots. I've been to the region so much that I don't need photographs. So I took a video camera and made transitions and pans that were absolutely inspired! I was all over the place. Imagine my perplexity when I got home and noticed that I did the whole trip with the camera set on "Night Shot!" The shots were all overexposed!

Well, at least the shots taken in the tunnels came out nice.
So, there's a lesson there somewhere.

So I came back with a vengance on my December trip. I brought a Zoom Q3 pocket sized video camera with a high-end microphone. I took shots all over Bogotá. I'll post some on YouTube soon. In late January I'll take the camera to the mines again, alone. The benefit of going alone to the emerald mines is that I can go on my Yamaha motocross bike. I leave Bogota early, and get to La Pita mines or Borbur six or seven hours later. Between those two points there are zero boring moments.

Deep in the Andes Mountains (hour five) there are long stretches where I never get out of second gear! It is that steep, wet and rocky! The rivers and the mountains are just amazing. Also, there really is a feeling, closer to the emerald mineralization zones, of being close to the treasure - emeralds. It is an intoxication that gem explorers know quite

well and needs no elaboration here. Because of the remoteness, there is only a small population; and I know enough people to always find a welcome in whatever mine I choose to visit. Its something I have carefully cultivated over years: nobody gets into a mine without an invitation from a local mine shareholder. There is a two-year-old video I took of the region that is less than three minutes long but gives you a great feeling for the region: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E6DBO0oPlb0

My DT 125 close to the Fura Tena monolith.

The emerald market in Bogota was slow in October and in December 2009, just like other world gem markets. Amazingly the price of emeralds has stayed firm, even increased a bit; but that is a reflection of the weak dollar more than anything else. Big buyers still show up and buy but there is a caution based on an uncertain economy. Some emerald exporters are looking at investments and businesses that might diversify their interests just to be safe. Back in the states, the 473-carat Itoco Emerald continues to bring in record crowds at the Bowers Museum in Santa Ana (just like it did at GIA); details here: http://www.emeraldpassion.com/events.htm

Please forgive this next small diversion.....I love cars.......

BREAKING NEWS - TESLA SIGHTING IN SARATOGA, CALIFORNIA !
Many of you are familiar of photos of my house in Bogotá, Colombia, but my other residence in the heart of Silicon Valley has different pecularities and attributes. Saratoga's main street, called big Basin Way, is home to some of the region's finest restaurants. On any weekend, it is easy to see exotic cars like Bentleys or Ferraris tooling around (the dealerships for these cars are just five minutes away in Los Gatos). Even the rare Lamborghini, Bugatti or Ford GT40 can be spotted. Just yesterday, parked in front of the Plumed Horse restaurant was the first ever Tesla sighting (almost as cool as Bill Larson selling minerals from the trunk of G.Emringer's Ferrari at Pala.com). <<Link>>

There is one thing that is well understood in Silicon Valley: management of batteries in laptops. Martin Eberhard, founder and former CEO of Tesla Motors, applied that knowledge to its fullest extent in order to power an automobile: the Tesla. Assembled in San Jose, 5 miles away, these all-electric cars have microprocessor-controlled lithium ion battery packs and go from 0-60 in 4 seconds. The Tesla can travel 200 miles on a charge. The 2008 model has sold out and this one might be one of the first deliveries made to local customers. Or it might be that Eberhard himself was having dinner, or current CEO Zeev Drori. The 2009 model is ramping up production as they already have over 1000 reservations for new models. An emerald hood ornament would complete the cars' cutting edge appearance.

BREAKING NEWS - Bugatti Veyron sighting in Saratoga California.

Many of you remember the news of a Tesla sighting near my home in Silicon Valley (scroll down to see). Just today, July 31, we saw and photographed a Bugatti near the Plumed Horse restaurant, always a busy spot on a Friday.

Here are images of other nice cars; all photographed the same Friday afternoon. A new Rolls Royce with the top down,